Nice that "the boys" didn't forget Monck while the were divvying up the New World from the safety of country. (I'm guessing the Court is staying at Hampton Court now?) What fun for Charles II, paying off his supporters with all that empty land of promise.
I wonder what Anthony Ashley-Cooper had on Charles to warrant being included? Or perhaps he bought his spot by forgiving Lady Castlemaine's poker debts?
While little of Hugh May's work survives, he was an integral part of Charles II's plan to make England a world leader of fashion and technology, and worked closely with Christopher Wren on plans for London after the Great Fire.
A short article with pictures, explaining the role of architecture, and highlighting the importance of Clarendon House, is at https://www.thecultureconcept.com…
I found a paper on the housing, care and feeding of Dutch prisoners-of-war and the sick in all three Anglo-Dutch Wars, inquiring whether these functions were state sponsored or privately provided. The entire paper by Gijs Rommelse and Roger Downing is at https://www.tandfonline.com/eprin…
"Why would extra men be going on these ships, that are heading out to sea to a battle?"
I agree with Peach that Admirals always like to take their personal staff to new commands. I think these supernumeraries were volunteers who wanted to go along with the hope of being recognized and rewarded for bravery. Seamen are good at sailing, and the gun crews were skilled men ... but when it comes to boarding an enemy ship, the more sword hands you had the better. There were no Marines per se yet.
"Very angry indeed. And so Sam lapses back to his old way of thinking about Sir Penn as that dissembling knave."
"... which makes Pett mad, and calls him dissembling knave, ..."
I didn't read that as Pepys thinking badly of Penn. He's just reporting Pett's outrage.
What I think happened was word of the disarray at Chatham and Sheerness reached either the Navy Board or Whitehall. Either Penn took it upon himself to ask James to send him to Sheerness (a vital outpost of Chatham at this time), or James asked Penn to go. That must have been why Pepys was not included in the planning meeting yesterday ... it's personnel matters that need solving by someone with the status of an experienced Admiral, and not issues with supplies for a change.
I think Commissioner Pett has been recalled to London at this crucial time for a meeting with Charles II and James. I'd be worried about being fired if I were Pett. If Pett has taken it upon himself to desert Chatham at this moment, I'd also be worried about being fired. In short, unloading about Penn is probably a sign of Pett's insecurity, and Pepys is just walking, listening and going "quite so, ah-ha, you don't say," etc.
Furthermore, Pett is worried about losing turf and status and budgets, but we know from Coventry and Pepys' trip in August 1663, Pett made lovely ships, but was lousy at personnel issues. http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1…
"... and here I saw some fine prints, brought from France by Sir Thomas Crew, who is lately returned."
Sir Thomas Crew MP was in France -- an enemy nation -- buying prints for resale? Sounds like a cover for a diplomatic mission to me.
His House of Commons bio says Sir Thomas Crew MP was one of the least active Members of the Cavalier Parliament, but notes his health was poor; he was suffering from continued apoplectic fits in 1662 and troubled with the vapors and dizzy spells in 1663.
I feel sorry for Jemima Crew Montagu, Countess of Sandwich, waiting patiently at Hinchingbrooke for word from her husband in Madrid and her brother in France, and her husband's enemies losing badly to the Dutch. These women had nerves of steel.
Since Admiral Penn takes James' yacht, the Henrietta, maybe he stays on it for this trip making sure there was no malingering. He leaves tomorrow and stays there until August 1. This visit puts Penn in the territory of Commissioner Peter Pett of the Chatham Dockyards, under whose purview Sheerness is currently operating -- as we will hear tomorrow.
Sheerness was a short point of marshland jutting out of the north-western tip of the Isle of Sheppey. Mariners referred to it as the Ness or the Point. The Ness had strategic potential as it lay at the mouth of the River Medway -- up river at Chatham was the fleet anchorage. Whoever controlled the Ness controlled England’s warships.
Sheerness held potential for another reason. The three royal naval dockyards on the Thames and Medway – Deptford, Woolwich and Chatham – were all up rivers, away from the sea.
When the second Anglo-Dutch war began in March 1665, the two enemies faced each other across the North Sea, meaning ship maintenance would fall mainly to these dockyards of the Thames and Medway.
The Admiralty considered ways to efficiently turn around ships needing stores and minor repairs. Sheerness, where the broad mudflats exposed at low tide on the southern side of the Ness had been used for the careening of ships' hulls, was selected as the most suitable site for a depot.
In the spring of 1665, a small ready-to-use victualing storehouse was erected adjacent to the foreshore near the Ness. As readily available supplies of spare masts, yards, rigging and canvas came into demand, a stockpile was developed at Sheerness in what rapidly became a ramshackle little depot.
On 18 August, 1665 the Navy Board Commissioners landed at Sheerness to survey the ground and layout the proposed new dockyard. https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/…
Three months later, in mid-November 1665, it was announced that large warships would be refitted at Sheerness Dockyard adjacent to which, at the Ness, work on a fort to contain 29 pieces of ordnance was underway, but progress on the fort was slow.
Sheerness fort and dockyard had no supporting town. Low quality housing, a poor water supply and a high risk of contracting ague (a form of malaria) led to construction delays and a lack of workers.
Lack of available land caused operational problems. Several hulks were positioned on the foreshore to act as breakwaters, but soon they were accommodating workers, navy personnel and dockyard activities so spaces between the hulks (and later the hulks themselves) were infilled with soil so new hulks could be added.
Whether or not the hulks were there at this point, I do not know. But the plain-living Puritan (but wealthy) Admiral Sir William Penn was used to roughing it for a while. There was more than enough for him to do, whipping Sheerness into shape.
On 18 August, 1665 the Navy Board landed at Sheerness to survey the ground and layout the proposed new dockyard. https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/…
In mid-November 1665 it was announced that large warships would be refitted at Sheerness Dockyard adjacent to which, at the Ness, work on a fort to contain 29 pieces of ordnance was underway, but progress on the fort was slow.
Sheerness fort was still not completed when, in June 1667, the Dutch fleet sailed to attack the English fleet in the Medway -- precisely the event the fort was being constructed to prevent, but it was under-manned and only 7 guns were serviceable. After an exchange of fire, the defenders abandoned the fort.
The Dutch marched into both Sheerness fort and dockyard without opposition and laid waste to them both.
The Dutch ships also advanced up the River Medway, and decimated the English fleet. The triumphant Dutch then sailed back to Holland.
A few weeks later a peace treaty was concluded.
To prevent repetition of this disaster, plans were immediately drawn up to build a powerful fortress at Sheerness, and work started on the dockyard to make it operational as fast as possible.
By the end of 1672 work on the sturdy fort and adjacent dockyard were complete.
Initially, Sheerness Dockyard functioned as an extension of Chatham and was overseen by Chatham’s resident commissioner. Conceived primarily for the repair and maintenance of naval ships, no shipbuilding took place there until 1691.
Sheerness fort and dockyard had no supporting town. Low quality housing, a poor water supply and a high risk of contracting ague (a form of malaria) led to construction delays and a lack of workers.
The lack of available land caused operational problems. Several hulks were positioned on the foreshore to act as breakwaters, but soon they were accommodating workers, navy personnel and dockyard activities so spaces between the hulks (and later the hulks themselves) were infilled with soil so new hulks could be added.
The first dry-dock was completed in 1708, the second in 1720. By 1738 dockyard workers had built the first houses in a small shanty area they named Blue Town – so-called from the grey-blue paint they purloined from the dockyard.
By the end of the 18th century Mile Town (a mile from the Dockyard) had sprung up, forming the nucleus of the modern town of Sheerness.
The Isle of Sheppey, which is about 9 miles long and 4-1/2 wide, lies on the south side of the Thames estuary and is separated from the north Kent coast by a narrow channel called the Swale.
Sheerness in the mid-17th century was a short point of uninhabited marshland jutting out of the north-western tip of the Isle of Sheppey. Mariners referred to it as the Ness or the Point.
The Ness had strategic potential as it lay at the mouth of the River Medway -- up river at Chatham was the fleet anchorage. Whoever controlled the Ness controlled England’s warships.
Sheerness held potential for another reason. The three royal naval dockyards on the Thames and Medway – Deptford, Woolwich and Chatham – were all up rivers, away from the sea. Ships needing repair found the passage up river a tedious exercise which, for a large sailing ship relying on favorable winds and tides, could take days.
A similar problem existed for ships at the yards when they were ordered to put to sea. They had to negotiate the Thames or the Medway before entering the Thames estuary.
The Nore (a long east-west sandbank producing a large stretch of calmer water used by the navy as a convenient anchorage) lies just off the Ness. Ships anchored at the Nore in need of small repairs could carry out the work themselves; the crews used materials that were shipped down to them, occasionally employing shipwrights if more specialized tasks were involved.
Re-victualing could also be done from the Ness. Supplies were delivered from Chatham, or from Queenborough (the little Sheppey borough that stands on the banks of the Swale about two miles to the south of Sheerness Point). Likewise fresh powder and shot could be conveyed down river to the waiting ships.
When the second Anglo-Dutch war began in March 1665, the two enemies faced each other across the North Sea, dictating the likely arena for engagements, meaning ship maintenance would fall mainly to the dockyards of the Thames and Medway.
The Admiralty considered ways to overcome the problems presented by these river dockyards to aid quick turn-round of ships coming in for stores and repairs.
The Isle of Grain on the bank opposite the Ness was considered, as was Queenborough. Also contemplated was Sheerness, where the broad mudflats exposed at low tide on the southern side of the Ness had been used for the careening of ships' hulls. Sheerness was selected as the most suitable.
In the spring of 1665, a small ready-to-use victualing storehouse was erected adjacent to the foreshore near the Ness. As readily-available supplies of spare masts, yards, rigging and canvas came into demand to keep the fighting ships at sea, a stockpile of stores was developed at Sheerness in what rapidly became a ramshackle little depot.
Talking about the importance of Letters of Credit in international trade finance, the current Lord Mayor of London is one Thomas Bludworth MP,
Charles II is much indebted to Bludworth, who was one of the members of parliament in 1660 who went to The Hague with a letter from the City of London suggesting he come home -- and provided a letter of credit for the needs of the exiled Court. (With four other merchants, Bludworth produced half of the £50,000 required.)
Thomas Bludworth MP was knighted 16 May 1660 at The Hague, and recommended for the order of the Royal Oak, with an estimated income of £3,000.
"Here at Mr. Debasty’s I saw, in a gold frame, a picture of a Fluter playing on his flute which, for a good while, I took for paynting, but at last observed it a piece of tapestry, and is the finest that ever I saw in my life for figures, and good natural colours, and a very fine thing it is indeed."
The Bodlien Library has three splendid 16th-17th century tapestries showing counties of England. For 200 years the Bodleian never displayed any of the tapestry maps because it didn't have a big enough spare wall. They came out of storage when the Weston Library building opened in 2015, creating the first proper exhibition space for one of them. All three have been magnificently restored in partnership with the National Trust’s conservation experts. Gentle washing in Belgium brought out astonishingly beautiful colors, suggesting they could never have been exposed to daylight for long.
Damage from creasing suggests that the tapestries were folded for long periods. And straight-edged gaps show where sections were deliberately cut out to use in upholstery — a chunk of Gloucestershire reportedly ended up as a fire screen.
Oxfordshire is currently on display and members of the maps department will give a free talk in front of it every weekday morning. There is plenty to say: although damaged, it includes a magnificent beast representing the figure that is cut into the turf in the Vale of the White Horse, and London is shown with the Tower of London, a solitary bridge and the tall spire of Old St. Paul’s 70 years before its destruction in the Great Fire. Oxford itself is praised in a florid text panel for its “sixeteene colledges and eyght halles”.
The fragment of Gloucestershire features in a major free exhibition on maps opening at the Bodleian on 5 July 2019.
Perhaps we should knock on the doors of all the grand country houses and ask if, by any chance, they have an old cushion cover densely woven with villages, church towers, orchards and deer parks.
Talking Maps, until 8 March 2020, Weston Library, Bodleian Libraries, Oxford
Back when elaborate hats were part of everyday fashion, the people following this occupation were known as hatters. They would use mercury often in their process of felting the fur of the animals they worked, which had the unfortunate side effect of making them go insane. The technical term for this illness is erethism, but the phrase 'mad as a hatter' works just as well.
During the 18th century, business owners would keep track of debts, interests and loans on “tally sticks,” or notches carved on wood. When you arrived to pay off your debt right before the next notch was carved, you had arrived in the nick of time. https://blog.wordgenius.com/outda…
Classed as ‘worthy’ by Anthony Ashley-Cooper, Earl of Shaftesbury in 1677, Littleton feared the bill for educating the royal children as Protestants under the bishops’ supervision would ‘rather promote than hinder Popery’.
In the closing session of 1679, Littleton was named to the committee to inquire into the Popish Plot and helped to draw up reasons for believing in it. On 14 Nov., 1679, Littleton reported an address for administering the oaths to the servants of Queen Catherine and the duchess of York, Mary of Modena.
Littleton again helped to draw up Danby’s impeachment, although he agreeing to Denzil Holles' proposal that it would be dropped if Parliament were dissolved, and Danby dismissed.
Littleton then helped to prepare reasons for disallowing Danby’s pardon.
Unable to find a seat at the next election, Littleton was given a place on the board of Admiralty.
In 1681 Sir Leoline Jenkins instructed Sir Robert Holmes to find Littleton a seat in the Isle of Wight, and he was returned for Yarmouth.
As an ‘expedient’ to break the deadlock on exclusion, Sir Thomas Littleton MP proposed that, on the death of Charles II, his authority should devolve on his niece, Mary, Princess of Orange.
When Parliament met in the autumn of 1669, a pamphlet, The Alarum, was distributed to Members in which Littleton was described as ‘an angry man against the Court until silenced by a good place, and is now content that everything should be let alone, having got what he grumbled for’.
Co-Treasurer of the Navy Sir Thomas Littleton MP repeatedly spoke for supply in 1670, declaring that the money granted two years before had proved quite inadequate to the needs of the navy, and took the chair on the bill to preserve naval stores in April 1671.
But during the recess of 1671, his co-Treasurer, Sir Thomas Osborne succeeded in evicting Littleton from his office on charges of corruption. He received a valuable victualling contract as compensation.
For the remainder of the Cavalier Parliament Littleton was in opposition. Gilbert Burnet judged Sir Thomas Littleton MP and Henry Powle MP were ‘the men that laid the matters in the House with the greatest care’.
Next, at a meeting at the Admiralty to consider renewing the contract for victualling the navy, Treasurer Sir Thomas Osborne (later Earl of Danby) used the words ‘a cheat upon the King’ to describe the last contract. Littleton retorted ‘no more cheat than he that said it’, and Osborne told Littleton that ‘he would deal with him elsewhere, that he was a cheat or knave, and he would prove it’. Littleton lost the victualling contract.
Sir Thomas Littleton MP’s accounts as Treasurer and as Victualler were never cleared, although the Lord Treasurer, Thomas Osborne, now Earl of Danby, began proceedings.
In 1674 Sir Thomas Littleton MP reported reasons for a conference on the address accepting peace with Holland, but failed to substantiate the charge of Popery against Samuel Pepys.
Before the next session Thomas Osborne, Earl of Danby wrote to Charles II: “Sir Thomas Littleton, who besides the great knaveries already known to his Majesty both in Parliament and his offices, and near £90,000 brought in post abstracts to his accounts, sets himself industriously, not only to traduce me in all kinds, but is in perpetual cabals against his Majesty to prepare fuel for the Parliament, and that nothing should be believed which his Majesty does say.”
It was even alleged Littleton had resorted to bribery to procure evidence against his former colleague, Samuel Pepys, although the witness denied it.
At the end of April 1674, when Littleton was pressing for Danby’s impeachment, Giles Strangways observed: ‘I am not for a general accusation, when I have heard some gentlemen speak one way when they have offices, and another when they have none, and fall out when they cannot agree about sharing the revenue among them’.
Littleton suspected an allusion to himself, but eventually agreed to let the matter drop, while continuing to press for Danby’s impeachment.
Thomas Littleton was a colorful character, so I suggest you read his entire biography as a member of parliament. For our purposes I've narrowed it down to mostly his Navy activities. https://www.historyofparliamenton…
He was born around 1621, the first son of Sir Adam Littleton, 1st Bt., of Stoke St. Milborough by Etheldreda, daughter and heir of Thomas Poyntz of North Ockenden, Essex.
Littleton's marriage license is dated 6 Oct. 1637 when, aged 17, he wed Anne Littleton, daughter and heir of Edward Littleton, 1st Baron Lyttelton of Mounslow. Perhaps they were cousins?
Sir Adam Littleton was apparently neutral in the Civil War. Under the influence of his father-in-law, the lord keeper Edward Littleton, 1st Baron Lyttelton of Mounslow, Thomas became an active Royalist, succeeding his father in Sept. 1647 as the 2nd Bart.
Sir Thomas Littleton MP signed the Cavalier declaration of 1660 disclaiming animosity towards their former enemies, and as a very active Member of the Cavalier Parliament, Littleton was appointed to 381 committees, in nine of which he took the chair, acted as teller in 18 divisions, and made 304 speeches.
On the outbreak of the second Anglo-Dutch war, Littleton would have granted only one-fifth of the £2,500,000 demanded by the Government.
Littleton reported a deficiency of £5,000 in the accounts of the loyal and indigent officers fund on 20 Dec. 1664.
In pursuit of office in 1665, Littleton attached himself to Secretary of State, Sir Henry Bennet, Lord Arlington.
In 1666 Littleton acted as teller for a bill for the preservation of naval stores, but resisted the government proposals for the additional excise, both in debate and division, earning from Andrew Marvell the sobriquet of ‘great Littleton’.
The fall of Chancellor Clarendon opened up new vistas for the ambitious, and Littleton took a leading part in the next session. He helped draft the address of thanks for the Chancellor’s dismissal, and served on all the principal committees of inquiry into the late administration, saying ‘... being chief minister of state, and taking upon him the sole management of the Government, must either be guilty, or be able to clear himself by laying it justly upon others’.
Despite his Cavalier background, Littleton was one of the leaders of the ‘Presbyterian’ party in Parliament.
Littleton helped to prepare Adm. Sir William Penn’s impeachment.
In November, 1668 Secretary of State Sir Henry Bennet, Lord Arlington obtained the lucrative post of Treasurer of the Navy for Littleton, although he had to share the office with the Duke of Buckingham’s candidate, Sir Thomas Osborne.
Had Pepys known the following, would he have been so enthusiastic about meeting Sir Thomas Littleton MP today?
Littleton wanted to granted only one-fifth of the £2,500,000 demanded by the Government in the Oxford finance bill. (Penn as an MP must have known that, but Littleton turned out in later years to be no friend of Penn's either.)
In pursuit of office, in 1665 Sir Thomas Littleton MP had attached himself to Secretary of State, Sir Henry Bennet, Lord Arlington, who was also a Commissioner of Prizes. Who knows what Littleton's heard about Pepys' shenanigans with the prize ships last year.
In 1666 Sir Thomas Littleton MP acted as teller for a bill for the preservation of naval stores, about which we will presumably hear something later.
Thomas Littleton MP resisted the government proposals for the additional excise, both in debate and division, earning from Andrew Marvell the sobriquet of ‘great Littleton’.
Later Sir Thomas Littleton MP reported a bill for the better attendance of those Members who had not followed his example by taking up permanent residence in London.
Gilbert Burnet, who later became Thomas Littleton MP’s next-door neighbor in Lincoln’s Inn Fields, wrote: “Littleton was the ablest and vehementest arguer of them all. He commonly lay quiet till the end of a debate; and he often ended it, speaking with a strain of conviction and authority that was not easily resisted. ... A man of strong head and sound judgment, he had just as much knowledge in trade, history, and the disposition of Europe and the constitution of England as served to feed and direct his own thoughts, and no more.”
I wonder if great Littleton "lay quiet" this evening as well, listening to Pepys tell everyone how he had single-handedly refit the fleet for this next encounter.
Notes taken from: A BRIEF HISTORY OF LIMERICK, IRELAND
In the 16th century Limerick was a busy little Irish town but the 17th century was a turbulent one for Ireland, and Limerick underwent four sieges.
In 1641 Ireland rose in rebellion. In 1642 the Irish army entered Limerick. The English troops in the city withdrew into the castle and the Irish laid siege. The English held out for a month but they gave in when they realized the Irish were mining the walls.
In 1649 Oliver Cromwell began the reconquest of Ireland. In June 1651 an English army under Henry Ireton arrived in Limerick. They were unable to take the city by storm as it was too heavily defended, so they blockaded it. Plague broke out in the city and decimated the defenders. Eventually, after 5 months, the Irish under their leader, Hugh O'Neil were forced to surrender. The English executed several people who they claimed were responsible for prolonging the siege by refusing to accept surrender terms earlier.
Then in 1688 the Catholic king of England, James II was deposed. In 1689 James II landed in Ireland with French troops. The Irish rose in support but in 1690 they were defeated at the Battle of the Boyne.
James II fled to France and his army retreated westwards. Despite the defeat at the Boyne in June the French/Irish decided to defend the city.
William III, the new English king, arrived on 8 August 1690, but he had to wait for his heavy cannons to brought from Dublin. along the way the cannons were intercepted by Patrick Sarsfield on 11 August, who destroyed the ammunition, wagons, and horses. Sadly this only delayed the inevitable.
The third siege pf Limerick began in late August 1690 and on the 25th a breach was made in the walls of the city. William III’s forces attempted to break through the breach, but were repulsed. The English were running out of ammunition and at the end of August the siege was lifted.
The siege of Limerick (#4) was resumed in 1691 when an English army was sent under a Dutchman named Ginkel. (William III was king of Holland as well as England). On 8 September, 1691 Ginkel's men began the bombardment and soon made a breach in the walls of Englishtown. On 22 September the English soldiers crossed the Shannon on a pontoon bridge and attacked the earthwork a French officer ordered his men to raise the drawbridge before the Irish troops could cross. The English then massacred the Irish soldiers. The remaining defenders were demoralized by this disaster and the next day (23 September) they asked for a truce.
Limerick surrendered on 3 October, 1691, but the English did not honor the treaty.
In the late 17th century a palace was built for the Protestant Bishops of Limerick. (Which might account for Bishop Fuller not wanting to live there from 1663-1667 -- he didn't have a nice enough palace?)
Comments
Second Reading
About Friday 30 June 1665
San Diego Sarah • Link
That's a terrific website, Terry. Good find!
Nice that "the boys" didn't forget Monck while the were divvying up the New World from the safety of country. (I'm guessing the Court is staying at Hampton Court now?) What fun for Charles II, paying off his supporters with all that empty land of promise.
I wonder what Anthony Ashley-Cooper had on Charles to warrant being included? Or perhaps he bought his spot by forgiving Lady Castlemaine's poker debts?
About Hugh May
San Diego Sarah • Link
While little of Hugh May's work survives, he was an integral part of Charles II's plan to make England a world leader of fashion and technology, and worked closely with Christopher Wren on plans for London after the Great Fire.
A short article with pictures, explaining the role of architecture, and highlighting the importance of Clarendon House, is at
https://www.thecultureconcept.com…
About Saturday 21 July 1666
San Diego Sarah • Link
"... he will fling, up his commission rather than bear it."
Pett threatening to quit before he can be fired -- blaming Penn for going to fix the probems Pett was unable to control.
About Tuesday 20 February 1665/66
San Diego Sarah • Link
I found a paper on the housing, care and feeding of Dutch prisoners-of-war and the sick in all three Anglo-Dutch Wars, inquiring whether these functions were state sponsored or privately provided. The entire paper by Gijs Rommelse and Roger Downing is at https://www.tandfonline.com/eprin…
My summary covering the second and third wars is at https://www.pepysdiary.com/encycl…
About Saturday 21 July 1666
San Diego Sarah • Link
"Why would extra men be going on these ships, that are heading out to sea to a battle?"
I agree with Peach that Admirals always like to take their personal staff to new commands. I think these supernumeraries were volunteers who wanted to go along with the hope of being recognized and rewarded for bravery. Seamen are good at sailing, and the gun crews were skilled men ... but when it comes to boarding an enemy ship, the more sword hands you had the better. There were no Marines per se yet.
About Saturday 21 July 1666
San Diego Sarah • Link
"Very angry indeed. And so Sam lapses back to his old way of thinking about Sir Penn as that dissembling knave."
"... which makes Pett mad, and calls him dissembling knave, ..."
I didn't read that as Pepys thinking badly of Penn. He's just reporting Pett's outrage.
What I think happened was word of the disarray at Chatham and Sheerness reached either the Navy Board or Whitehall. Either Penn took it upon himself to ask James to send him to Sheerness (a vital outpost of Chatham at this time), or James asked Penn to go. That must have been why Pepys was not included in the planning meeting yesterday ... it's personnel matters that need solving by someone with the status of an experienced Admiral, and not issues with supplies for a change.
I think Commissioner Pett has been recalled to London at this crucial time for a meeting with Charles II and James. I'd be worried about being fired if I were Pett. If Pett has taken it upon himself to desert Chatham at this moment, I'd also be worried about being fired. In short, unloading about Penn is probably a sign of Pett's insecurity, and Pepys is just walking, listening and going "quite so, ah-ha, you don't say," etc.
Furthermore, Pett is worried about losing turf and status and budgets, but we know from Coventry and Pepys' trip in August 1663, Pett made lovely ships, but was lousy at personnel issues.
http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1…
About Friday 20 July 1666
San Diego Sarah • Link
"... and here I saw some fine prints, brought from France by Sir Thomas Crew, who is lately returned."
Sir Thomas Crew MP was in France -- an enemy nation -- buying prints for resale? Sounds like a cover for a diplomatic mission to me.
His House of Commons bio says Sir Thomas Crew MP was one of the least active Members of the Cavalier Parliament, but notes his health was poor; he was suffering from continued apoplectic fits in 1662 and troubled with the vapors and dizzy spells in 1663.
I feel sorry for Jemima Crew Montagu, Countess of Sandwich, waiting patiently at Hinchingbrooke for word from her husband in Madrid and her brother in France, and her husband's enemies losing badly to the Dutch. These women had nerves of steel.
About Friday 20 July 1666
San Diego Sarah • Link
Since Admiral Penn takes James' yacht, the Henrietta, maybe he stays on it for this trip making sure there was no malingering. He leaves tomorrow and stays there until August 1. This visit puts Penn in the territory of Commissioner Peter Pett of the Chatham Dockyards, under whose purview Sheerness is currently operating -- as we will hear tomorrow.
About Friday 20 July 1666
San Diego Sarah • Link
"Sir W. Pen is ordered to go down to Sheernesse,"
Sheerness was a short point of marshland jutting out of the north-western tip of the Isle of Sheppey. Mariners referred to it as the Ness or the Point. The Ness had strategic potential as it lay at the mouth of the River Medway -- up river at Chatham was the fleet anchorage. Whoever controlled the Ness controlled England’s warships.
Sheerness held potential for another reason. The three royal naval dockyards on the Thames and Medway – Deptford, Woolwich and Chatham – were all up rivers, away from the sea.
When the second Anglo-Dutch war began in March 1665, the two enemies faced each other across the North Sea, meaning ship maintenance would fall mainly to these dockyards of the Thames and Medway.
The Admiralty considered ways to efficiently turn around ships needing stores and minor repairs. Sheerness, where the broad mudflats exposed at low tide on the southern side of the Ness had been used for the careening of ships' hulls, was selected as the most suitable site for a depot.
In the spring of 1665, a small ready-to-use victualing storehouse was erected adjacent to the foreshore near the Ness. As readily available supplies of spare masts, yards, rigging and canvas came into demand, a stockpile was developed at Sheerness in what rapidly became a ramshackle little depot.
On 18 August, 1665 the Navy Board Commissioners landed at Sheerness to survey the ground and layout the proposed new dockyard. https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/…
Three months later, in mid-November 1665, it was announced that large warships would be refitted at Sheerness Dockyard adjacent to which, at the Ness, work on a fort to contain 29 pieces of ordnance was underway, but progress on the fort was slow.
Sheerness fort and dockyard had no supporting town. Low quality housing, a poor water supply and a high risk of contracting ague (a form of malaria) led to construction delays and a lack of workers.
Lack of available land caused operational problems. Several hulks were positioned on the foreshore to act as breakwaters, but soon they were accommodating workers, navy personnel and dockyard activities so spaces between the hulks (and later the hulks themselves) were infilled with soil so new hulks could be added.
Whether or not the hulks were there at this point, I do not know. But the plain-living Puritan (but wealthy) Admiral Sir William Penn was used to roughing it for a while. There was more than enough for him to do, whipping Sheerness into shape.
About Sheerness, Kent
San Diego Sarah • Link
On 18 August, 1665 the Navy Board landed at Sheerness to survey the ground and layout the proposed new dockyard.
https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/…
In mid-November 1665 it was announced that large warships would be refitted at Sheerness Dockyard adjacent to which, at the Ness, work on a fort to contain 29 pieces of ordnance was underway, but progress on the fort was slow.
Sheerness fort was still not completed when, in June 1667, the Dutch fleet sailed to attack the English fleet in the Medway -- precisely the event the fort was being constructed to prevent, but it was under-manned and only 7 guns were serviceable. After an exchange of fire, the defenders abandoned the fort.
The Dutch marched into both Sheerness fort and dockyard without opposition and laid waste to them both.
The Dutch ships also advanced up the River Medway, and decimated the English fleet. The triumphant Dutch then sailed back to Holland.
A few weeks later a peace treaty was concluded.
To prevent repetition of this disaster, plans were immediately drawn up to build a powerful fortress at Sheerness, and work started on the dockyard to make it operational as fast as possible.
By the end of 1672 work on the sturdy fort and adjacent dockyard were complete.
Initially, Sheerness Dockyard functioned as an extension of Chatham and was overseen by Chatham’s resident commissioner. Conceived primarily for the repair and maintenance of naval ships, no shipbuilding took place there until 1691.
Sheerness fort and dockyard had no supporting town. Low quality housing, a poor water supply and a high risk of contracting ague (a form of malaria) led to construction delays and a lack of workers.
The lack of available land caused operational problems. Several hulks were positioned on the foreshore to act as breakwaters, but soon they were accommodating workers, navy personnel and dockyard activities so spaces between the hulks (and later the hulks themselves) were infilled with soil so new hulks could be added.
The first dry-dock was completed in 1708, the second in 1720. By 1738 dockyard workers had built the first houses in a small shanty area they named Blue Town – so-called from the grey-blue paint they purloined from the dockyard.
By the end of the 18th century Mile Town (a mile from the Dockyard) had sprung up, forming the nucleus of the modern town of Sheerness.
More at https://www.thehistorypress.co.uk…
About Sheerness, Kent
San Diego Sarah • Link
The Isle of Sheppey, which is about 9 miles long and 4-1/2 wide, lies on the south side of the Thames estuary and is separated from the north Kent coast by a narrow channel called the Swale.
Sheerness in the mid-17th century was a short point of uninhabited marshland jutting out of the north-western tip of the Isle of Sheppey. Mariners referred to it as the Ness or the Point.
The Ness had strategic potential as it lay at the mouth of the River Medway -- up river at Chatham was the fleet anchorage. Whoever controlled the Ness controlled England’s warships.
Sheerness held potential for another reason. The three royal naval dockyards on the Thames and Medway – Deptford, Woolwich and Chatham – were all up rivers, away from the sea. Ships needing repair found the passage up river a tedious exercise which, for a large sailing ship relying on favorable winds and tides, could take days.
A similar problem existed for ships at the yards when they were ordered to put to sea. They had to negotiate the Thames or the Medway before entering the Thames estuary.
The Nore (a long east-west sandbank producing a large stretch of calmer water used by the navy as a convenient anchorage) lies just off the Ness. Ships anchored at the Nore in need of small repairs could carry out the work themselves; the crews used materials that were shipped down to them, occasionally employing shipwrights if more specialized tasks were involved.
Re-victualing could also be done from the Ness. Supplies were delivered from Chatham, or from Queenborough (the little Sheppey borough that stands on the banks of the Swale about two miles to the south of Sheerness Point). Likewise fresh powder and shot could be conveyed down river to the waiting ships.
When the second Anglo-Dutch war began in March 1665, the two enemies faced each other across the North Sea, dictating the likely arena for engagements, meaning ship maintenance would fall mainly to the dockyards of the Thames and Medway.
The Admiralty considered ways to overcome the problems presented by these river dockyards to aid quick turn-round of ships coming in for stores and repairs.
The Isle of Grain on the bank opposite the Ness was considered, as was Queenborough. Also contemplated was Sheerness, where the broad mudflats exposed at low tide on the southern side of the Ness had been used for the careening of ships' hulls. Sheerness was selected as the most suitable.
In the spring of 1665, a small ready-to-use victualing storehouse was erected adjacent to the foreshore near the Ness. As readily-available supplies of spare masts, yards, rigging and canvas came into demand to keep the fighting ships at sea, a stockpile of stores was developed at Sheerness in what rapidly became a ramshackle little depot.
About Thursday 21 June 1666
San Diego Sarah • Link
Talking about the importance of Letters of Credit in international trade finance, the current Lord Mayor of London is one Thomas Bludworth MP,
Charles II is much indebted to Bludworth, who was one of the members of parliament in 1660 who went to The Hague with a letter from the City of London suggesting he come home -- and provided a letter of credit for the needs of the exiled Court. (With four other merchants, Bludworth produced half of the £50,000 required.)
Thomas Bludworth MP was knighted 16 May 1660 at The Hague, and recommended for the order of the Royal Oak, with an estimated income of £3,000.
And now he is the Lord Mayor, God help them all.
About Thursday 21 June 1666
San Diego Sarah • Link
"Here at Mr. Debasty’s I saw, in a gold frame, a picture of a Fluter playing on his flute which, for a good while, I took for paynting, but at last observed it a piece of tapestry, and is the finest that ever I saw in my life for figures, and good natural colours, and a very fine thing it is indeed."
The Bodlien Library has three splendid 16th-17th century tapestries showing counties of England. For 200 years the Bodleian never displayed any of the tapestry maps because it didn't have a big enough spare wall. They came out of storage when the Weston Library building opened in 2015, creating the first proper exhibition space for one of them. All three have been magnificently restored in partnership with the National Trust’s conservation experts. Gentle washing in Belgium brought out astonishingly beautiful colors, suggesting they could never have been exposed to daylight for long.
Damage from creasing suggests that the tapestries were folded for long periods. And straight-edged gaps show where sections were deliberately cut out to use in upholstery — a chunk of Gloucestershire reportedly ended up as a fire screen.
Oxfordshire is currently on display and members of the maps department will give a free talk in front of it every weekday morning. There is plenty to say: although damaged, it includes a magnificent beast representing the figure that is cut into the turf in the Vale of the White Horse, and London is shown with the Tower of London, a solitary bridge and the tall spire of Old St. Paul’s 70 years before its destruction in the Great Fire. Oxford itself is praised in a florid text panel for its “sixeteene colledges and eyght halles”.
The fragment of Gloucestershire features in a major free exhibition on maps opening at the Bodleian on 5 July 2019.
Perhaps we should knock on the doors of all the grand country houses and ask if, by any chance, they have an old cushion cover densely woven with villages, church towers, orchards and deer parks.
Talking Maps, until 8 March 2020, Weston Library, Bodleian Libraries, Oxford
https://www.theartnewspaper.com/n…
About Doll Stacey
San Diego Sarah • Link
Phrases we still use:
"Mad as a hatter"
Back when elaborate hats were part of everyday fashion, the people following this occupation were known as hatters. They would use mercury often in their process of felting the fur of the animals they worked, which had the unfortunate side effect of making them go insane. The technical term for this illness is erethism, but the phrase 'mad as a hatter' works just as well.
https://blog.wordgenius.com/outda…
About Tally
San Diego Sarah • Link
A phrase we still use:
"In the nick of time"
During the 18th century, business owners would keep track of debts, interests and loans on “tally sticks,” or notches carved on wood. When you arrived to pay off your debt right before the next notch was carved, you had arrived in the nick of time.
https://blog.wordgenius.com/outda…
About Sir Thomas Littleton (MP Much Wenlock, Joint Treasurer of the Navy 1668-71)
San Diego Sarah • Link
Classed as ‘worthy’ by Anthony Ashley-Cooper, Earl of Shaftesbury in 1677, Littleton feared the bill for educating the royal children as Protestants under the bishops’ supervision would ‘rather promote than hinder Popery’.
In the closing session of 1679, Littleton was named to the committee to inquire into the Popish Plot and helped to draw up reasons for believing in it. On 14 Nov., 1679, Littleton reported an address for administering the oaths to the servants of Queen Catherine and the duchess of York, Mary of Modena.
Littleton again helped to draw up Danby’s impeachment, although he agreeing to Denzil Holles' proposal that it would be dropped if Parliament were dissolved, and Danby dismissed.
Littleton then helped to prepare reasons for disallowing Danby’s pardon.
Unable to find a seat at the next election, Littleton was given a place on the board of Admiralty.
In 1681 Sir Leoline Jenkins instructed Sir Robert Holmes to find Littleton a seat in the Isle of Wight, and he was returned for Yarmouth.
As an ‘expedient’ to break the deadlock on exclusion, Sir Thomas Littleton MP proposed that, on the death of Charles II, his authority should devolve on his niece, Mary, Princess of Orange.
Sir Thomas Littleton MP died on 14 April, 1681.
About Sir Thomas Littleton (MP Much Wenlock, Joint Treasurer of the Navy 1668-71)
San Diego Sarah • Link
When Parliament met in the autumn of 1669, a pamphlet, The Alarum, was distributed to Members in which Littleton was described as ‘an angry man against the Court until silenced by a good place, and is now content that everything should be let alone, having got what he grumbled for’.
Co-Treasurer of the Navy Sir Thomas Littleton MP repeatedly spoke for supply in 1670, declaring that the money granted two years before had proved quite inadequate to the needs of the navy, and took the chair on the bill to preserve naval stores in April 1671.
But during the recess of 1671, his co-Treasurer, Sir Thomas Osborne succeeded in evicting Littleton from his office on charges of corruption. He received a valuable victualling contract as compensation.
For the remainder of the Cavalier Parliament Littleton was in opposition. Gilbert Burnet judged Sir Thomas Littleton MP and Henry Powle MP were ‘the men that laid the matters in the House with the greatest care’.
Next, at a meeting at the Admiralty to consider renewing the contract for victualling the navy, Treasurer Sir Thomas Osborne (later Earl of Danby) used the words ‘a cheat upon the King’ to describe the last contract. Littleton retorted ‘no more cheat than he that said it’, and Osborne told Littleton that ‘he would deal with him elsewhere, that he was a cheat or knave, and he would prove it’.
Littleton lost the victualling contract.
Sir Thomas Littleton MP’s accounts as Treasurer and as Victualler were never cleared, although the Lord Treasurer, Thomas Osborne, now Earl of Danby, began proceedings.
In 1674 Sir Thomas Littleton MP reported reasons for a conference on the address accepting peace with Holland, but failed to substantiate the charge of Popery against Samuel Pepys.
Before the next session Thomas Osborne, Earl of Danby wrote to Charles II: “Sir Thomas Littleton, who besides the great knaveries already known to his Majesty both in Parliament and his offices, and near £90,000 brought in post abstracts to his accounts, sets himself industriously, not only to traduce me in all kinds, but is in perpetual cabals against his Majesty to prepare fuel for the Parliament, and that nothing should be believed which his Majesty does say.”
It was even alleged Littleton had resorted to bribery to procure evidence against his former colleague, Samuel Pepys, although the witness denied it.
At the end of April 1674, when Littleton was pressing for Danby’s impeachment, Giles Strangways observed: ‘I am not for a general accusation, when I have heard some gentlemen speak one way when they have offices, and another when they have none, and fall out when they cannot agree about sharing the revenue among them’.
Littleton suspected an allusion to himself, but eventually agreed to let the matter drop, while continuing to press for Danby’s impeachment.
About Sir Thomas Littleton (MP Much Wenlock, Joint Treasurer of the Navy 1668-71)
San Diego Sarah • Link
Thomas Littleton was a colorful character, so I suggest you read his entire biography as a member of parliament. For our purposes I've narrowed it down to mostly his Navy activities.
https://www.historyofparliamenton…
He was born around 1621, the first son of Sir Adam Littleton, 1st Bt., of Stoke St. Milborough by Etheldreda, daughter and heir of Thomas Poyntz of North Ockenden, Essex.
Littleton's marriage license is dated 6 Oct. 1637 when, aged 17, he wed Anne Littleton, daughter and heir of Edward Littleton, 1st Baron Lyttelton of Mounslow. Perhaps they were cousins?
Sir Adam Littleton was apparently neutral in the Civil War. Under the influence of his father-in-law, the lord keeper Edward Littleton, 1st Baron Lyttelton of Mounslow, Thomas became an active Royalist, succeeding his father in Sept. 1647 as the 2nd Bart.
Sir Thomas Littleton MP signed the Cavalier declaration of 1660 disclaiming animosity towards their former enemies, and as a very active Member of the Cavalier Parliament, Littleton was appointed to 381 committees, in nine of which he took the chair, acted as teller in 18 divisions, and made 304 speeches.
On the outbreak of the second Anglo-Dutch war, Littleton would have granted only one-fifth of the £2,500,000 demanded by the Government.
Littleton reported a deficiency of £5,000 in the accounts of the loyal and indigent officers fund on 20 Dec. 1664.
In pursuit of office in 1665, Littleton attached himself to Secretary of State, Sir Henry Bennet, Lord Arlington.
In 1666 Littleton acted as teller for a bill for the preservation of naval stores, but resisted the government proposals for the additional excise, both in debate and division, earning from Andrew Marvell the sobriquet of ‘great Littleton’.
The fall of Chancellor Clarendon opened up new vistas for the ambitious, and Littleton took a leading part in the next session. He helped draft the address of thanks for the Chancellor’s dismissal, and served on all the principal committees of inquiry into the late administration, saying ‘... being chief minister of state, and taking upon him the sole management of the Government, must either be guilty, or be able to clear himself by laying it justly upon others’.
Despite his Cavalier background, Littleton was one of the leaders of the ‘Presbyterian’ party in Parliament.
Littleton helped to prepare Adm. Sir William Penn’s impeachment.
In November, 1668 Secretary of State Sir Henry Bennet, Lord Arlington obtained the lucrative post of Treasurer of the Navy for Littleton, although he had to share the office with the Duke of Buckingham’s candidate, Sir Thomas Osborne.
About Wednesday 18 July 1666
San Diego Sarah • Link
Had Pepys known the following, would he have been so enthusiastic about meeting Sir Thomas Littleton MP today?
Littleton wanted to granted only one-fifth of the £2,500,000 demanded by the Government in the Oxford finance bill. (Penn as an MP must have known that, but Littleton turned out in later years to be no friend of Penn's either.)
In pursuit of office, in 1665 Sir Thomas Littleton MP had attached himself to Secretary of State, Sir Henry Bennet, Lord Arlington, who was also a Commissioner of Prizes. Who knows what Littleton's heard about Pepys' shenanigans with the prize ships last year.
In 1666 Sir Thomas Littleton MP acted as teller for a bill for the preservation of naval stores, about which we will presumably hear something later.
Thomas Littleton MP resisted the government proposals for the additional excise, both in debate and division, earning from Andrew Marvell the sobriquet of ‘great Littleton’.
Later Sir Thomas Littleton MP reported a bill for the better attendance of those Members who had not followed his example by taking up permanent residence in London.
Gilbert Burnet, who later became Thomas Littleton MP’s next-door neighbor in Lincoln’s Inn Fields, wrote: “Littleton was the ablest and vehementest arguer of them all. He commonly lay quiet till the end of a debate; and he often ended it, speaking with a strain of conviction and authority that was not easily resisted. ... A man of strong head and sound judgment, he had just as much knowledge in trade, history, and the disposition of Europe and the constitution of England as served to feed and direct his own thoughts, and no more.”
I wonder if great Littleton "lay quiet" this evening as well, listening to Pepys tell everyone how he had single-handedly refit the fleet for this next encounter.
From https://www.historyofparliamenton…
About Wednesday 18 July 1666
San Diego Sarah • Link
Notes taken from: A BRIEF HISTORY OF LIMERICK, IRELAND
In the 16th century Limerick was a busy little Irish town but the 17th century was a turbulent one for Ireland, and Limerick underwent four sieges.
In 1641 Ireland rose in rebellion.
In 1642 the Irish army entered Limerick. The English troops in the city withdrew into the castle and the Irish laid siege. The English held out for a month but they gave in when they realized the Irish were mining the walls.
In 1649 Oliver Cromwell began the reconquest of Ireland.
In June 1651 an English army under Henry Ireton arrived in Limerick. They were unable to take the city by storm as it was too heavily defended, so they blockaded it. Plague broke out in the city and decimated the defenders. Eventually, after 5 months, the Irish under their leader, Hugh O'Neil were forced to surrender.
The English executed several people who they claimed were responsible for prolonging the siege by refusing to accept surrender terms earlier.
Then in 1688 the Catholic king of England, James II was deposed.
In 1689 James II landed in Ireland with French troops. The Irish rose in support but in 1690 they were defeated at the Battle of the Boyne.
James II fled to France and his army retreated westwards. Despite the defeat at the Boyne in June the French/Irish decided to defend the city.
William III, the new English king, arrived on 8 August 1690, but he had to wait for his heavy cannons to brought from Dublin. along the way the cannons were intercepted by Patrick Sarsfield on 11 August, who destroyed the ammunition, wagons, and horses. Sadly this only delayed the inevitable.
The third siege pf Limerick began in late August 1690 and on the 25th a breach was made in the walls of the city. William III’s forces attempted to break through the breach, but were repulsed. The English were running out of ammunition and at the end of August the siege was lifted.
The siege of Limerick (#4) was resumed in 1691 when an English army was sent under a Dutchman named Ginkel. (William III was king of Holland as well as England). On 8 September, 1691 Ginkel's men began the bombardment and soon made a breach in the walls of Englishtown.
On 22 September the English soldiers crossed the Shannon on a pontoon bridge and attacked the earthwork a French officer ordered his men to raise the drawbridge before the Irish troops could cross. The English then massacred the Irish soldiers. The remaining defenders were demoralized by this disaster and the next day (23 September) they asked for a truce.
Limerick surrendered on 3 October, 1691, but the English did not honor the treaty.
In the late 17th century a palace was built for the Protestant Bishops of Limerick. (Which might account for Bishop Fuller not wanting to live there from 1663-1667 -- he didn't have a nice enough palace?)
http://www.localhistories.org/lim…